Let’s not pretend like we don’t know who really benefits here

Let’s not pretend like we don’t know who really benefits here

Oh, Michael, Michael, Michael… here you are again, calling me “liberal” as though 1) being liberal was a bad thing, and 2) thinking I’m insulted by the label.

Before I get too far into this debate, I’ll once again defend the ideals of “liberal” politics. The dictionary offers a pair of definitions: 1) Being open to new behavior or opinions and willing to look beyond traditional values. 2) Being concerned mainly with broadening a person’s general knowledge and experience, rather than with technical or professional training.

Either way, I’m glad to be thought of as a liberal.

Now, some folks like to use it like a dirty word to describe any political idea they don’t like, but most of the folks who think like that are the kind that will likely benefit from this tax cut.

Now, you’re right when you say the forever and ever, the Democrats ruled the roost here in Arkansas. But I know you’re just pretending that you don’t know that being an “Arkansas Democrat” used to be a whole different animal than it is now. There used to not even be a Republican party in Arkansas and the Democratic party was considered the more conservative of the two. And as much as the Republicans like to remind people that they are The Party of Lincoln, today’s GOP has as much to do with Abraham Lincoln’s politics as Ronald McDonald has to do with fine dining.

You evoked the “Chicken-and-egg” argument, so here’s another idiom for you: “Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing.” That’s exactly what’s going on here with this tax cut. Yes, the legislature is throwing a bone to the middle class with a fractional reduction in income taxes, but there’s little doubt that the whole point behind this is the classic “the rich get richer” tax cut for the wealthiest Arkansans, the ones who are by virtue of their wealth, the ones who stand to gain the most out of this plan.

Now, I’m a capitalist at heart, so I’m all for get out there and make the most money you can, but it’s very often overlooked that the super wealthy are extremely indebted to the working class and the poor for their success. To keep it in Arkansas, the Walton family would not all be billionaires if not for the blue-collar workers who spend their paychecks in Walmart every day. Who is better positioned to bear a bigger tax burden? The Waltons or John and Judy Jones and their four kids?

You say my “liberal friends are all in an uproar over this idea of reducing the tax rate by a meager one percent.” But one percent of a billion dollars is $10 million. So, just the income tax from the state’s half-dozen or so billionaires is already going to be reduced by tens of millions of dollars. And that’s just the Waltons and Tysons and folks like Warren Stephens and Johnelle Hunt.

There’s a reason Sen. Ingram and others voted against it the tax cut. It’s because those dollars have to be made up somewhere, and any tax cut to the wealthy — and to a lesser extent, the middle class — is inevitably going to have to be made up by the poor. Sure, the poorest of Arkansans pay lower income taxes, but sales taxes, fuel taxes, taxes on beer and cigarettes, and any number of use and excise taxes that get raised to make up the budget shortfall will be unevenly disproportionately taken on by the poor, which will be a greater percentage of their income.

By Ralph Hardin